Ten critically endangered vulture species in the world, including three from India, are set to get the highest degree of protection, according to conservationists.India, ahead of the international talks in October, has proposed that it would play a leading role in efforts to conserve nature’s scavengers, convention organisers said on Friday. Three of the nine species of vultures in India – Oriental white-backed, Sender-billed and Long-billed Oriental white-backed, Sender-billed and Long-billed are on the brink of extinction.
The Bombay Natural History Society with the assistance of British charity Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is breeding th...

Eleven startups led by women entrepreneurs have been selected by global tech giant Google to train them. These startups would come under the Launchpad Accelerator Programme.The selected women entrepreneurs will get a chance to help promising startups achieve rapid progress in a short time through the mentorship program. This will be accomplished via focused 1:1 mentorship from Google and leading Industry Experts.Being in collaboration with Google’s Women Techmakers initiative and Google’s Women@program, the mentorship program includes leadership workshops driven by Google as well. The Shortlist Of Women Entrepreneurs -Led Startups
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A futuristic vision for socio-economic development has been adopted by a group of Indian Americans wherein they have planned to adopt 500 villages across India. A public announcement for the same will be made at the Big Ideas for Better India Conference in Silicon Valley on July 1st.
The Overseas Volunteer for Better India is leading the conference as an organizer as well. The keynote speech at the conference will be delivered by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a prominent Indian spiritual leader. The conference will be attended by over 1000 prominent members of the Indian American community in the United States. Some of the challenging problems that will be the center-point of the con...

Meghalaya government has decided to set up e-learning centres in the state for the benefit of those taking the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) as candidates.
The project will be implemented by the state’s Information Technology and Communication Department.
To start with, it will induct a batch of 25 candidates and the process of selection has been already initiated.
Co-chairman of the State Planning Board John Kharshiing said more that 1,000 schools in the state had benefitted from the IT education schemes for schools, which was partly funded by North...

Arunachal Pradesh government is contemplating creating a bio resource development mission.
The move, according to State Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, would help develop the state’s bio resources in a mission mode.
He said the state government would press the Centre to set up the proposed North East Bio-Resource Centre in Arunachal Pradesh as the state is very rich in bio-resource.
Chairing a meeting of the officials of state Horticulture Research &amp; Development Institute, North East Foundation, an NGO and Yes Bank, the minister said that the people of the state should take up livelihood activit...

New Study has examined the positive effects of yoga and meditation on DNA and gene expression. The study revealed that meditation and yoga reversed the harmful stress and anxiety related molecular reactions within the DNA.
The study published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology reviewed decades of research into how Mind-Body Interventions like meditation and yoga affect gene expression. The researchers noticed patterns in the molecular changes caused by yoga and meditation in over 18 different scientific studies that included over 846 participants over a span of 11 years. Researchers studied how gene expression is affe...

Researchers are exploring insights into the ability of visually impaired people to use echoes from a cane or other sounds to navigate safely – known as echolocation – to help people who lose eyesight later in life.
People who become blind early in life often learn to use echolocation more efficiently.But for individuals who become visually impaired later in life, a training in echolocation can help them to move through the world with greater independence and safety. “Eventually, I hope the research can give a result that can aid blind and visually impaired people,” said Bo Schenkman, an associate p...

More than 70 per cent of smartphone apps are reporting personal data to third-party tracking companies like Google Analytics, the Facebook Graph API or Crashlytics, warns a new study.
When people install a new Android or iOS app, it asks the user’s permission before accessing personal information. Some of the information these apps are collecting are necessary for them to work properly: A map app wouldn’t be nearly as useful if it couldn’t use GPS data to get a location.
But once an app has permission to collect that information, it can share your data with anyone the app’s developer wants t...

Seventy per cent of digital blood pressure monitors used at homes are “unacceptably inaccurate”, and could cause serious implications for people who rely on them, said researchers one of Indian-origin.
The study found that about 70 per cent of the time, these digital devices weren’t accurate within five mmHg, when compared to the mercury reading of the sphygmomanometer (used by medical practitioners) leading to flaws in making informed health decisions.
The devices were off the mark by 10 mmHg about 30 per cent of the time.
The findings are extremely relevant given millions of patients are ...

Slated to function in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor, the Indian Railways, under its ambitious bullet train project with a total estimated cost of Rs. 1 lakh crore, will have all sorts of facilities which will be more inclusive and cater for not just regular commuters but mothers with babies.
These trains will have changing rooms for babies that will include baby toilet seats, tables for diaper disposal and a low raised washbasin for children. Apart from providing child-friendly sanitary facilities, the trains will also be equipped with a whole new range of toilet systems comprising urinals, western-style toilet...

India’s railways is the world’s largest rail network and, it consumes more electricity than the whole of Sri Lanka. It’s no surprise then that Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu was quoted recently as saying that “identifying a cost-effective energy system with least environmental impact is essential.”
Under the Paris climate agreement, India pledged to reduce its carbon emissions intensity by 35% by 2030. Since then, the Indian government has been pushing to green the country’s vast railway network by installing 1,000 megawatts of solar energy and working towards having at least 10% ...

It is a little amazing to hear about a one hundred storied city in the nation’s capital a city that is green, a smart city and a residential place without any hindrances or obstacles in life.
The city, spread over 75 acres will be fully earthquake resistant.
The plan is that the occupants here should not be at too much of a distance from the basics amenities of life.
Safety provisions and facilities ranging from hospitals, sports grounds for school children, parks for the elderly, walking paths for ladies, shopping malls, community building, hotel, restaurant, art gallery for c...